Spring Training

Spring is here! And among other things it means that it is time to wake up and push forward with our training. Spring is that special time of year where you naturally feel more energized as the days become longer and warmer, but the hot and humid days of summer are still months away.  We have some fun events coming up at the dojo:

Sensei Phil is testing for his second degree black belt on March 31 at 10:00 AM. Make sure you are there and prepared to participate.

The Outdoor Seigan continues! With things like sunlight and above freezing temperatures, training outside this time of year is enjoyable. Come to practice Thursdays ready to venture out onto the hill.

Advanced Breaking Seminar for brown and black belts is on Friday the 23rd. Sign up for an opportunity to break boards, bricks, and ice!

Think about any possible seminars you would be interested in having. Contact any of the black belts about ideas or interests you have.

Along with all this, take some time to look over your testing requirements. Work on conquering your goals in the martial arts. That might mean achieving your next belt rank, attending more classes, or getting better at a specific facet of your training. Whatever your goals are, focus and use this time to train hard and experience the necessary mental and physical growth required to achieve them.

Photo By: Dan Hucko

Best Belt Rank?

What was your favorite belt rank (other than black belt)? And Why?

Green was my favorite. Green belt is the rank you first get to start using weapons and throws. You also get to be considered one of the "upper belts." Testing for my green belt was also an intense and challenging experience.

Add your thoughts in the comments!

But What If...

Post By: Sensei Lee

I think one of the most common questions I hear as a Sensei is "But what if...?"

"But what if someone grabs you this way?"
"But what if the have a knife?"
"But what if they are on drugs and don't feel it when you hit them?"
"But what if they hit you with the other hand while you're escaping the grab?"

There are countless "But what if's...?" in life in general, and certainly these questions are bound to come up during training. In fact, it is good to be questioning. It shows that you are thinking about your martial art techniques and not simply following through the motions blindly.

Training in any martial art does not guarantee that you will conquer a gang of goons like Bruce Lee by delivering one perfectly executed technique to each bad guy. It means that should a threatening situation arise, that you are better prepared to handle it than the average person who has no training.

Lets say you are leaving a crowded theater when a fight breaks out. Suddenly an angry, violent, and out of control individual comes hurtling at you and your loved one. Your training can do a few different things for you. Perhaps because of your training, you heard the sounds of a fight and recognized it for what it was ahead of time. Martial arts training could allow you to get yourself and your loved one out of the situation before you inadvertently become stuck in the middle of it. Maybe you were able to get your loved one out of the way and divert most of the blow from this attacker while managing to subdue them with a couple of well timed strikes. Or maybe you heard the attacker coming and had enough time to meet their blow and throw them to the ground with an imperfect but effective Koshi Nage. Or maybe as they were coming at you...

There are thousands of scenarios you can work through. This is in part because of your training, you understand all the different ways a situation like this could play out. In contrast, someone with no martial arts experience would likely not even recognize what was going on until it was too late.

In real life, a self defense situation is never going to work the way it does in the dojo. An attacker will not grab you the same way, react the way you are used to, or necessarily respond to a foot stomp. However, after training for a number of years you start to develop a kind of martial arts 6th sense. You recognize what way joints move and what ways they do not. As openings present themselves you strike without really thinking about it. Awareness is what prepares you to react to an attack accordingly, even if it is not exactly like the way we practice in circle attacks.

This awareness comes from practice and time. One of my favorite Sensei told me something back when I was a green belt that I still think about today: "Cry in the dojo, laugh on the battlefield." I love that saying, and think about it often.

Photo By: Dan Hucko